Chipping Sparrow
Spizella passerina

Description: This common sparrow has a gray head with a chestnut crown, light eyebrow and black eye-streak. The throat is white. The breast is gray, becoming lighter towards the belly. The back is brown, streaked with black. The rump is gray and he tail is brown. The dark wings have two white bands. Sparrows are seed-eating birds, and the chipping sparrow picks seeds off dandelions, grasses and many other ground level plants. They also eat some insects, particularly during the nesting season. In the mountains, chipping sparrows prefer open areas in dry montane coniferous woods. The nest is usually in a coniferous tree, and made primarily of plant stems, grass and rootlets, lined with soft materials. The call is similar to the dark-eyed junco, with a rapid-fire series of chipping notes. It usually is less musical than that of the junco, but may be difficult to distinguish.

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